oval

See also: Oval and ovál

English

An oval (sports field)

Etymology

From Late Latin ovalis, from ovum; cognate with French and Italian ovale, Dutch ovaal. From 1570.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈəʊvəl/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈoʊvəl/
• Rhymes: -əʊvəl

Noun

oval (plural ovals)

1. An elongated round shape resembling an egg or ellipse.
2. A thing having such a shape, such as an arena.
   • 1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 19:

     At the far end of the wide corridor were the doors of a ward. The panels were frosted save for ovals of clear glass at face level.

3. (Australia) A sports field, typically but not exclusively oval in shape.
4. (mathematics) In a projective plane, a set of points such that no three are collinear and there is a unique tangent line at each point.

Derived terms

• Cassinian oval
• Cassini oval
• flat oval
• hyperoval
• oval of Cassini
• oval squid
• oval window
• roval
• tri-oval

Translations

shape like an egg or ellipse

• Arabic: إِهْلِيلَج (ʔihlīlaj)
• Armenian: օվալ (hy) (ōval)
• Asturian: óvalu (ast) m
• Azerbaijani: oval
• Belarusian: ава́л m (avál)
• Bengali: ডিম্বাকার (bn) (ḍimbakar), উপবৃত্তাকার (bn) (upobrittakar)
• Bulgarian: овал m (oval)
• Catalan: oval (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 卵形 (zh) (luǎnxíng), 橢圓形 / 椭圆形 (zh) (tuǒyuánxíng)

• Czech: ovál m
• Danish: oval c
• Dutch: ovaal (nl)
• Esperanto: ovalo
• Estonian: ovaal
• Finnish: ovaali (fi), soikio (fi)
• French: ovale (fr) m
• Georgian: ოვალი (ovali)
• German: Oval (de) n
• Greek: ωόδης m or f (oódis)

  Ancient: θυρεός m (thureós), ᾠώδης (ōiṓdēs), ᾠοειδής (ōioeidḗs)

• Greenlandic: tumaasaavoq
• Gujarati: લંબગોળ m (lambgoḷ)
• Hanunoo: aba-aba
• Hebrew: אוּבָל (he)
• Hindi: अंडाकार (hi) m (aṇḍākār)
• Hungarian: ovális (hu), tojásidom
• Irish: ubhchruth m
• Italian: ovale (it) m
• Japanese: 卵形 (ja) (らんけい, rankei, たまごがた, tamagogata), 楕円形 (ja) (だえんけい, daenkei) (ellipse)
• Kazakh: сопақша (sopaqşa), сопақ (sopaq)
• Korean: 타원 (ko) (tawon), 달걀꼴 (dalgyalkkol)
• Kyrgyz: узунча тегерек (uzunca tegerek), сүйрү (ky) (süyrü)
• Latvian: ovāls m
• Lithuanian: ovalas m
• Macedonian: овал m (oval)
• Maori: porotītaha, porohema
• Navajo: názbąsgo heeneez
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: oval (no) m

  Nynorsk: oval m

• Polish: owal (pl) m
• Portuguese: ovoide (pt) m
• Romanian: oval (ro) n
• Russian: ова́л (ru) m (ovál)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: овал m

  Roman: oval (sh) m

• Slovak: ovál (sk) m
• Slovene: oval m
• Spanish: óvalo (es) m
• Swedish: oval (sv) c
• Tagalog: habilog
• Turkish: oval (tr)
• Ukrainian: ова́л (uk) m (ovál)
• Uzbek: oval (uz)
• Vietnamese: hình trái xoan (vi)
• Welsh: hirgrwn (cy) m

Adjective

oval (comparative more oval, superlative most oval)

1. Having the shape of an oval.
2. Of or pertaining to an ovum.

   oval conceptions

   • 1901, Havelock Ellis, Sexual inversion, page 187:

     Every congenital abnormality is doubtless due to a peculiarity in the sperm or oval elements or in their mingling, or to some disturbance in their early development.

Usage notes

• Any of the English adjectives derived from Latin ovum (including oval, ovate, ovoid) are typically considered synonymous when referring to egg-like shapes where one end is wider than the other but, out of all of them, oval is the most likely to be used in reference to a symmetrical ellipse.

Synonyms

• ovular, ovate, ovoid, ovaline, elliptical, egg-shaped

Derived terms

• bioval
• circumoval
• monoval
• nonoval
• oboval
• ovalescent
• ovaliform
• ovaline
• ovalisation
• ovalish
• ovality
• ovalization
• ovalize
• ovallike
• ovalling
• ovally
• ovalness
• ovalocyte
• ovaloid
• oval-shaped
• perioval
• plurioval
• semioval
• squoval
• suboval
• trioval
• unioval

Translations

oval-shaped

• Arabic: إِهْلِيلَجِيّ (ʔihlīlajiyy), بَيْضَوِيّ m (bayḍawiyy)
• Armenian: ձվաձեւ (hy) (jvajew)
• Asturian: ovaláu (ast), oval (ast)
• Bengali: ডিম্বাকার (bn) (ḍimbakar), উপবৃত্তাকার (bn) (upobrittakar)
• Bulgarian: овален (bg) (ovalen)
• Catalan: oval (ca), ovoide (ca)
• Czech: oválný (cs)
• Dutch: ovaal (nl), eivormig (nl)
• Esperanto: ovala, ovoforma
• Finnish: soikea (fi), munanmuotoinen, ovoidi
• French: ovale (fr), ovoïde (fr)
• Galician: oval (gl)
• German: oval (de)
• Greek: ωοειδής (el) (ooeidís)

  Ancient: ᾠοειδής (ōioeidḗs), ᾠώδης (ōiṓdēs)

• Hebrew: סְגַלְגַּל (he) (s'galgál), אוֹבָלִי (he) (ováli)
• Hungarian: ovális (hu), tojásdad (hu)
• Interlingua: oval
• Irish: ubhach, ubhchruthach
• Italian: ovale (it), ovoide (it), ovoidale (it)
• Korean: 타원형 (ko) (tawonhyeong)
• Maori: porotītaha
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: oval (no), avlang

  Nynorsk: oval, avlang

• Persian: خایه‌دیس (xâye-dis)
• Polish: owalny (pl)
• Portuguese: oval (pt), ovoide (pt), ovalado
• Russian: ова́льный (ru) m (oválʹnyj), ова́льная (ru) f (oválʹnaja), ова́льное (ru) n (oválʹnoje)
• Spanish: oval (es), ovalado (es)
• Swedish: oval (sv)
• Turkish: oval (tr)
• Welsh: hirgrwn (cy) m, hirgron (cy) f
• Yiddish: אָוואַל (oval)
• Yoruba: ọ̀gbún

of or pertaining to an ovum

• Catalan: ovular (ca)
• Portuguese: ovular

See also

• ovoid
• ovum

Anagrams

• vola

Asturian

Adjective

oval (epicene, plural ovales)

1. oval (oval-shaped)

Synonyms

• ovaláu

Catalan

Etymology

From ou +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [uˈβal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [oˈval]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Adjective

oval m or f (masculine and feminine plural ovals)

1. oval

   Synonym: ovalat

Noun

oval m (plural ovals)

1. oval

Related terms

• ovoide

Further reading

• “oval”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “oval”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “oval” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “oval” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Danish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /oˈvæˀl/

Noun

oval c (singular definite ovalen, plural indefinite ovaler)

1. oval (shape)
2. oval (object)

Declension

Declension of oval

common gender	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	oval	ovalen	ovaler	ovalerne
genitive	ovals	ovalens	ovalers	ovalernes

Adjective

oval (neuter ovalt, plural and definite singular attributive ovale)

1. oval

Inflection

Inflection of oval

	positive	comparative	superlative
indefinite common singular	oval	—	—2
indefinite neuter singular	ovalt	—	—2
plural	ovale	—	—2
definite attributive1	ovale	—	—

¹ When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite,
the corresponding "indefinite" form is used.
² The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively.

References

• “oval” in Den Danske Ordbog

German

Pronunciation

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Adjective

oval (strong nominative masculine singular ovaler, comparative ovaler, superlative am ovalsten)

1. oval

   Synonyms: eiförmig, eirund

Indonesian

Etymology

Internationalism, ultimately derived from Medieval Latin ovālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʔo.fal/
• Rhymes: -fal
• Hyphenation: o‧val

Adjective

oval

1. oval

   Synonyms: lonjong, bulat panjang, bulat telur, jorong

Further reading

• “oval”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin ovalis, from ovum (“egg”).

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

oval (neuter singular ovalt, definite singular and plural ovale)

1. oval

Noun

oval m (definite singular ovalen, indefinite plural ovaler, definite plural ovalene)

1. an oval

Derived terms

• ovalformet

References

• “oval” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin ovalis, from ovum (“egg”).

Adjective

oval (neuter singular ovalt, definite singular and plural ovale)

1. oval

Noun

oval m (definite singular ovalen, indefinite plural ovalar, definite plural ovalane)

1. an oval

References

• “oval” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /oˈvaw/ [oˈvaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ɔˈval/ [ɔˈvaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ɔˈval/ [ɔˈvaɫ]
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ɔˈbal/ [ɔˈβaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ɔˈva.li/

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: o‧val

Adjective

oval m or f (plural ovais)

1. oval (shaped like an egg)

   Synonyms: ovalado, ovoide

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French ovale.

Adjective

oval m or n (feminine singular ovală, masculine plural ovali, feminine/neuter plural ovale)

1. oval

Declension

Declension of oval

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	oval		ovală		ovali	ovale
	definite	ovalul		ovala		ovalii	ovalele
genitive- dative	indefinite	oval		ovale		ovali	ovale
	definite	ovalului		ovalei		ovalilor	ovalelor

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /oˈbal/ [oˈβ̞al]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: o‧val

Adjective

oval m or f (masculine and feminine plural ovales)

1. oval (shaped like an oval)

   Synonym: ovalado

Related terms

• huevo
• ovalado
• óvalo
• ovoide

Further reading

• “oval”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

Swedish

Adjective

oval (not comparable)

1. oval (having an elongated round shape)

Declension

Inflection of oval

Indefinite	positive	comparative	superlative1
common singular	oval	—	—
neuter singular	ovalt	—	—
plural	ovala	—	—
masculine plural2	ovale	—	—
Definite	positive	comparative	superlative
masculine singular3	ovale	—	—
all	ovala	—	—

¹ The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
² Dated or archaic.
³ Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.

See also

• elliptisk

Noun

oval c

1. an oval (elongated round shape)

Declension

Declension of oval

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	oval	ovals
	definite	ovalen	ovalens
plural	indefinite	ovaler	ovalers
	definite	ovalerna	ovalernas

See also

• ellips

References

• oval in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• oval in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• oval in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)